The majority of care is delivered by primary medical care services and they underpin our health and care system. However, in Bradford, we need to change our current system to make sure that it is affordable, easy to navigate and fit for the future.

The strategy looks to address the big challenges that primary care medical services in Bradford face over the next five years. These include; increasing levels of demand and patients with multiple complex conditions; meeting the expectations of seven day access to services alongside developing a workforce to match; and significant financial pressures.

Bradford CCGs are looking to fully implement plans by 2021 as part of a wider initiative to create a sustainable NHS. There are a number of changes we need to make now, and in the longer term, to improve people’s experience of services.

Helen Hirst, chief officer of the Bradford CCGs said: “Feedback from patients and the public is vital in making sure that our strategy works. We’ve used what people have already told us to inform our draft strategy and had some great feedback from our People’s Board. They told us that we need to include a greater emphasis on mental health, encourage collaboration to give people more choice over where to receive care and reduce reliance on GPs, and to give people the confidence to self-care and prevent the onset of serious conditions.”

“There is a real need to make changes now, so that we can ensure our local GP services can meet the demands of our local population in the future. A big part of these plans is to encourage stronger collaboration between services to ensure high quality, accessible services for all people in Bradford.”

The engagement will run for six weeks, from 5 September to 14 October. People are being asked to take a look at the strategy and complete a quick survey letting us know whether our plans meet their needs of primary care services.